Almost Too Much
by MildlyInsane
Summary: Mulder and Scully feel stressed out after a case, so they take comfort in each other. This story doesn't contain anything graphic. I don't write about sex. Please read and review.


**_This story takes place before season 8. I don't really have a specific time in which it takes place... just as long as it is before the episode "Requiem."_**

**_Enjoy:_**

**_xxxxxx_**

Mulder sat quietly on his couch in his dark apartment. He was feeling a bit more stressed than usual. Sometimes when he got to thinking about everything in his life: everything that had gone wrong, everything that had been sacrificed, everything that he would have to worry about in the near or distant future, he would feel completely overwhelmed.

He and Scully had just, earlier in the day, finished up a case involving the disappearance of a 13 year old girl. They had followed a lead to an abandoned building, where they believed the girl may have been taken by a captor, but they got there too late. They had found the girl, dead, and both he and Scully had felt completely miserable for the rest of the day. Not only was the young girl's life unfairly stolen away, but they hadn't even really solved the case at all. Mulder had a theory, and Scully had a different theory, but in the end, after the girl was found to be dead, they were forced to hand the case over to the local police.

It was one of the most miserable cases they had worked on in some time. Throughout the duration of their work on the case, Mulder sensed that Scully was extremely bothered. From the beginning they feared the worst, as a missing child case usually ends up being either a homicide or a run-a-way case, and judging by what they were told by the girl's family and friends, she was not the type to run away from home.

Therefore, from the very beginning Mulder and Scully assumed the worst had likely occurred. However, they both seemed to be in a state of denial, and were completely shocked when they ended up finding the girl dead in the abandoned building.

When they had found her, Mulder looked to Scully, who he could see was holding back tears. They had never even met the girl, yet somehow Scully felt she had lost someone near and dear to her. Scully was always more affected by cases involving the death of children than Mulder was.

They finished up all necessary paper work, and reluctantly handed the case off. Together they reported back to their superiors and then each went back to their own separate apartments.

And there Mulder sat, in the darkness, consumed by his thoughts. The case had got him thinking, and he was now feeling extremely depressed. It was around midnight. He wasn't tired, but he didn't know what to do to occupy himself. He could watch the television until he drifted off, but he really just felt like sitting in the darkness and doing nothing, which is exactly what he planned on doing, until he heard a knock at his door.

Mulder walked to the door and opened it. Scully was standing on the other side. She was frowning.

"Scully," Mulder began, "what's wrong?"

Of course he could easily guess what was wrong. Scully was upset for the same reason he was. Their case had ended just like every other depressing case similar to it. Scully, like Mulder, had probably been thinking about the case, along with everything else that had gone amiss in her life, and now here she was, at Mulder's door.

"Can I come in?" Scully answered, her voice quiet.

"Yeah. Of course," Mulder agreed, stepping to the side and letting Scully into his apartment, "can I get you something to drink? Water?" he paused, and then forced himself to smirk, "hard liquor?"

Scully smiled slightly at Mulder's demeanor, "no thanks," she replied. She sighed and walked over to Mulder's couch, sitting down in the spot where Mulder had been sitting previously.

"Mulder..." she hesitated, "I don't know what to do... I just... I mean, I know we deal with these cases all the time... It's just so awful. This job, everything about it... Why did I ever even want to do this? It is too stressful. I just don't know what to do, Mulder," she said, looking up at him, as he still stood.

Mulder looked down at Scully and then sat down beside her, "It's not just the job, Scully. You know that. Life is stressful. There is no escaping that."

"I know, Mulder," Scully agreed, "I'm just so tired of this, but what can I do? That case is never going to be solved. Did you see how the locals were handling it? That girl is never going to get the justice she deserves," she said quietly, shaking her head in disapproval.

"You never know," Mulder tried to cheer her up.

Scully closed her eyes and sighed stressfully, "I just don't want to think about any of this right now."

"Let's not then," Mulder told her, "life is hard, and if we stress ourselves out over everything that is wrong in life, we are going to become suicidal," he continued, half-jokingly, "now, how about that hard liquor?"

Scully shook her head, "I don't want to drink, Mulder. That won't make things any better."

"Really? I find that it is a temporary solution to my problems," Mulder disagreed.

"Temporary solutions are not solutions, Mulder," Scully said, leaning back on the couch, sighing again.

Mulder looked at Scully. She looked so stressed and upset. It made his heart ache to see her so upset. He scooted himself over closer to her, wrapping his arms around her. Scully welcomed his embrace and wrapped her arms around Mulder as well. She laid her head on his shoulder, as he rested his chin on the top of her head.

They both stayed silent, feeling safe and comforted in each other's arms, until they fell asleep. They slept peacefully, knowing that though the world was a sinister place, they would be able to make it through life as long as they had each other.

**_xxxxxx_**

**_I thought about maybe writing out the entire case as a longer multi-chapter story, but I realized the only reason I wanted to write this was for the end. It is easy to get overwhelmed in life, and I wanted to write a story where the characters just forget about everything for a moment while they hug each other. :) I thought about making this a Law and Order:SVU thing, and it would have pretty much fit to just replace the names Mulder and Scully with Elliot and Olivia. Ha ha ha... But I think I like it better as an X-Files story. _**

**_I hope you liked it, and please feel free to leave me a review._**

**_P.S. Who's excited about July 25?? I know I am. :)_**


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